The Big Hit
by charcoal-lashes
Summary: After spending most of her childhood being dragged to the local fight nights by her father, Clary Morgenstern can't wait to get away from boxing. Unfortunately, still living with her brother (who inherited the gene for the love of the sport), she's still spending her weekend nights around the ring. Despite being sick of it, the new rookie in town might keep her in the boxing world.
1. Chapter 1

Clary hated these kinds of places. Weekend after weekend, Jon would drag her to the fights with his two friends and expect her to sit around and wait for him. He threw a fit when she would ask to stay home by herself. "It's too dangerous for you to be home alone, Clare." He would say. Jon meant well, but he was an idiot. Clary had just turned 20 last Tuesday and if she kept working double shifts at the book store then she would have enough money to get her own place—hopefully one closer to her classes that she took every other day at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. Finally, for once she would be able to get away from Jon and the unwanted legacy her father had left behind. She no longer wanted any part of the blood-thirsty sport that had crippled her father and driven her brother mad with desire.

When Valentine Morgenstern, Clary and Jon's father, was in college he was "utterly broke" as he had always stated. One of Valentine's frat buddies had told him that his cousin could make a thousand bucks a night by going to the local bars and fighting in the lower-level boxing tournaments. And that was the start of it all. Night after night Valentine Morgenstern would rally against a new opponent to make a quick buck. His love for the sport grew as did his skill level. Clary could remember all of the stories about him getting invited to box in televised matches and him being in the paper once or twice; he was rather good. However, after a bad match with a few too many blows to the head, Valentine was forced to give up his love of boxing as advised by his physician. Naturally, when his first born child was a son, Valentine attempted to train him up to be the next great boxing champion. Jon however was wretched at fighting, and after several years of failed attempts at making him a great boxer, Clary's father had given up and turned to gambling on matches instead. His gambling problem ultimately was what caused their mother, Jocelyn, to leave him. And every other week when Clary and Jon would live with their father, he would drag them to matches all across the city, keeping them up until the wee hours of the morning to teach them anything and everything about boxing.

Clary could have cared less about all of it; like her mother, art was her true love. But Jon lusted for the fight. It was one of the many traits Valentine Morgenstern had passed down to his first born son, including their strong build, white-blonde hair, and dark eyes.

"Clarissa," her brother snapped, shaking her from her thoughts. Only two people in the world called her Clarissa: one of them was her father, and the other was Jon—but only when he was irritated with her.

"What?" she mumbled, still absentminded.

"I said will you go get me a drink? The next match is about to start and I don't wanna miss it waiting in that line. I've got a lot of money on this one."

"Of course you do." she muttered, snatching the twenty dollar bill from his hand and making her way toward the bar.

Everyone knew the Morgenstern siblings around here. Pandemonium was Jon's go-to place to bet on fights, as was her father's. As Clary walked, she greeted a few of the regulars she knew, waving to some who were too far out of ear-shot. When she finally reached the line for the bar, she pulled out her phone and texted Simon.

Simon had been her best friend since middle school. He attended Carnegie Mellon and had been put into some kind of smart-kid engineering program.

 **Any chance you'll come save me tonight?**

Responding almost immediately, his text read _**Wish I could but I would rather die.**_

Clary chuckled to herself at his response. Simon hated the low-life bars and the fighting and the late hours of boring paperwork Jon always had to fill out when he won money. Clary had successfully dragged Simon to exactly two fight nights in high school. At the second one, one of the fighters blew chunks all over the left side of the first row after stepping down from the ring—which just so happened to be where Simon had been walking past to get to Clary. After that, he had vowed to never come with her again.

Stepping up to the bar for her turn to order, she smiled sweetly at Craig, the bartender whom Clary had known ever since she was a kid.

"Jon wants a beer." She stated obviously to him, holding out the crisp twenty. Craig knew she was underage, in fact, all the bartenders knew, but she was a Morgenstern, and the Morgenstern's had special rights around these places.

"You're sure I can't get you anything, Clary?" Craig asked, reaching for a clear, plastic cup to fill for Jon.

Smiling again she answered, "No I'm good. Thanks Craig."

Handing her Jon's beer he said, "Want me to put the change on his tab?"

"That'd be great." And she walked off, back to find her idiot brother.

When she spotted his unmistakable white-blonde hair, she waited a beat. Jon and his two friends Jordan and Sebastian were in an intense discussion, Jordan moving his hands wildly with each word. The clock was counting down the seconds until the visiting opponent would enter the ring, and it was at thirty. She scanned the small crowd that had now formed, gazing at all of the familiar faces, seeing only a few newcomers. One unfamiliar face in particular caught her eye. He was mildly attractive with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes, but it wasn't his looks that caught her attention, it was his stance. He was nervous. The man fidgeted with something in between his fingers and stood on his toes every now and then to glance around the room as if he was looking for someone or waiting for something awful to happen. This clearly wasn't his scene. Clary assumed he was waiting for a date.

 _What a terrible place to bring a date_ , she thought as she tore her eyes from the scared man and walked back toward Jon.

She placed the beer in his hands without a word and he took it with a nod.

She didn't dare look at Sebastian.

"Hey Clary, how ya been?" Jordan beamed, hugging her tightly. Jordan had been upstate visiting his parents for the past few weeks to celebrate his dad's birthday.

Smiling back meaningfully Clary said, "I'm good. How was your dad's b—"

"Shhhh!" Jon silenced her as the lights flashed and then dimmed to reveal it was time for the first match. All of the boys' attention was now on the far corner entrance of the bar where the visitor was about to come through. Clary rolled her eyes at the blood-thirsty boys she was next to. They were always so caught up in the game.

John McCavvy, a regular fighter at Pandemonium, was already in the ring warming up with his trainer. Jon and John McCavvy had grown close over the past few months and Jon was extremely loyal to him. McCavvy always won her brother some money every time he bet on him and he hoped for the same tonight.

"Let's go McCavvy!" Sebastian screamed over the announcer. Clary flinched at the sound of his voice. She detested Sebastian. Two days ago, Jon had invited all of his closest friends over to their dinky apartment to celebrate the Mayweather fight money Jon had won the day before. Sebastian had, of course, came and, of course, gotten too drunk and, or course, made a pass at Clary. That was Seb's move: get super drunk and hit on a girl he wants to sleep with while making a total ass of himself. It was the fifth time Clary had said no to him and every time, Jon would get mad and forgive him the next day. Clary, however, was never too keen to forgive his constant advances.

The announcer's fuzzy acoustics butchered the name he bellowed over the speakers. Clary had no idea what his name was but as soon as the lights in the corner from which he emerged turned on, she knew she would never forget his face. He had tanned skin and a set jaw that could cut glass. Clary gulped as he began to walk forward, his beefy trainer in tow. He was lean and toned, carved as if he were a statue and his gold eyes didn't move from his opponent's as he made his way to the ring. Golden blonde hair covered his head in slight curls that Clary longed to run her nimble fingers through.

Suddenly, she remembered what she was here for, and—more importantly—what team she was rooting for. Jon needed to win that money tonight and as much as it pained her to think about Golden Boy's pretty face being thumped, she hoped McCavvy would beat him to a pulp.

 **Hope you enjoyed. Sorry to everyone waiting for me to update Her Half Brother's Douchebag Friend, I promise it's still coming.**


	2. Chapter 2

JACE POV

Jace had never seen more red in a fight than he had last night.

Not a drop of blood was spilled.

But the only thing he could seem to focus on was the gorgeous red head in the crowd.

"Fighters ready?"

Jace nodded subtly, glancing again at the beautiful girl in the crowd before looking back at his beefy opponent and tapping his gloves with his own. It was time for him to focus. He couldn't afford to think about her low cut shirt or the dark wash of denim that hugged her small waist. He most certainly couldn't afford to mull over the fact that she was standing next to three very protective looking men who had clearly bet against him considering the way they glared at Jace now. Jace had been training for this match for weeks. The boxing scene in Pittsburgh wasn't like the one in Columbus, Ohio, however. Jace had just moved in with his cousin Alec a few weeks ago after deciding that he wanted to expand on his fighting career and, knowing being in the heart of Ohio wasn't going to get him anywhere, he packed up his stuff and showed up on his cousins doorstep. Unannounced. Alec had never approved of the way Jace made his living, but Alec was a daddy's money, have-everything-handed-to-him, hot-shot lawyer—he didn't understand. Not that Jace was bitter about Alec's upbringing, Jace just knew a different side to life than Alec did.

Being inside the ring was like being at home to Jace. His dad had loved the sport and when Jace had shown interest, Stephen Herondale had jumped at the chance to teach Jace everything he knew. Jace recalled the long nights spent splitting his hands while his friends were at football practice or going on family vacations.

Jace side stepped his opponents first swing, pulling around a mean right hook of his own, causing the hulking man before him to stumble. He watched every step McCavvy took, mimicking his movements like his father had taught him. Jace refused to lose focus during a match; the earnings from a win being too much to afford a glance toward the beautiful red head in the crowd. But the thought of her watching him stayed in the back of his mind as he took down his opponent, one round at a time.

Twelve perfectly executed rounds passed, Jace hitting his mark with almost every stroke. He loved a good, clean fight.

The bell signaling the end of the final round sounded around him, cheers from the drunken audience drowning his thoughts. Then again, Jace couldn't really think of anything when he was in his zone. Only one, sure thought forcibly entered his mind when he was in a fight: take down the other angry-looking guy in the ring. Except for tonight, when dancing images of a beautiful red head penetrated his thoughts.

Hodge grabbed Jace's arm, pulling him into a fast victory hug as Jace fought for his breath. Jace pulled away quickly, vaguely aware of Alec's relief as he made his way toward Jace, struggling to get through the busy crowd. A flash of red crossed his vision. Honing in on the beautiful girl whose striking green eyes met his for only a moment, he jumped from the elevated ring. She was walking briskly, trying to keep up with a very angry looking guy with white blonde hair. With one last glance over her shoulder, her eyes locked once again with Jace's before she followed the angry boy and her two other companions out the back door.

"Jace?" Alec said again, clearly annoyed.

"Yeah, thanks." Jace mumbled, raising himself up on his tiptoes to gaze at the door the girl had just exited through.

Alec rolled his eyes, and grabbed Jace gruffly by his shoulder, hauling him off to the judges table to collect his earnings.

"Just one moment Mr. Herondine we'll get you you're money."

"Herondale." Jace corrected irritably. "Just give it to this guy," he said distractedly, gesturing to Alec, "I'll be right back."

Leaving an out of place Alec to fend for himself, Jace made his way to the bar. Bartenders always had the dirt, and if Jace wanted to see this mystery girl ever again, he would need a source.

"Excuse me," Jace said kindly to the man behind the counter, "would you happen to know the name of a red-headed girl that was here just a few minutes ago? She dropped her bracelet on her way out and I just wanted to make sure she could get it back." Jace bullshitted to the husky man behind the counter. He plastered a fake smile on his perfect face as he studied the man before him. He was rather large, his shirt stretching unattractively across his chest. A few unkempt straggles of a dark beard hung around his chin.

He eyed Jace up and down before snorting. "Clary doesn't date fighters. Her and her brother are here every other week if you wanna try your hand though," he shrugged. Smiling now he added, "she also doesn't wear jewelry."

Smirking, Jace replied with a light tap on the bar top, "Thanks, man."

CLARY POV

Had he been staring at her? She could have sworn he had been. The rookie fighter that destroyed McCavvy was all Clary could think about on the ride back to her and Jon's apartment. The apartment that they now had no money to pay rent for this month since Jonathan had gambled it all away on the wrong boxer tonight. He was pissed.

"That fucking McCavvy." Jonathan seethed from the front seat of the taxi. Clary was wedged uncomfortably between Sebastian and Jordan, squirming every few minutes to reposition herself.

"It's cool, Jon." Sebastian consoled from the back seat. "If you can't make rent this month you and Clary can come stay at my place for a while."

"Those words could make me a serious working woman." Clary said dryly. Jordan snickered at her offhanded comment and Sebastian sneered at her.

Clary had never had a job other than working at her mom's friend Luke's bookstore. She had been saving her paychecks ever since she started working there in high school. After making all of her payments for art school last fall, she assumed that she would have enough money left over for her own place. She had assumed wrong. There didn't seem to be enough work hours in the day for Clary to make the money for her own place. Just another month or two, she reminded herself as she stepped out of the cab after Jordan—which he paid for.

"What was the rookie's name again? Jason?" Jonathan asked, still obviously angry as he fiddled with the lock to the lobby of their apartment.

"Jace, I think." Jordan offered from behind him, waiting for Jon to open the door so they could all watch late television and order Chinese—a post-match tradition for the four of them.

"Well he's a dick for pissing away all of my money."

"You're the one pissing away all of your money, Jon." Clary defended.

"Shut up, Clarissa." Jon snapped, swinging open the door.

"Don't hate the player," she taunted, using one of her father's favorite sayings as she side stepped Jon and walked into the living room, "hate the game."

The four of them ordered their usuals from Jade Wolf, the Chinese food place down the street, sitting in front of the flat screen all night. Clary finished off her Kung-Pow chicken and promptly went to bed, allowing the boys some of the guy time that they rarely had since Clary was always around. Or maybe Clary was already witnessing the guy time when she was with them. It's not like they held back with their gross boy-isms when she was around. Settling into bed, Clary dreamed of blonde curls and strong arms, hoping to see the ruthless fighter again when Jon dragged her out next week.

 **I'm sorry I know it's short but I wanted this chapter here to set up the next one. I have a new story out (while still working on 3 others lol) so please go check it out. I know I take forever to update sometimes and I'm so sorry. Reviews appreciated. :)**


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